Automatic life-sheet fender.



M. L. KEIZUR. AUTOMATIC LIFE SHEET FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26,1900.

955,967. Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

M. L. KEIZUR.

AUTOMATIC LIFE SHEET FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED 3.20. 1909.

955,967, Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

2 SHEETS-MEET 2.

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UNITED STATES P AEENT OFFICE.

MARCUS I1. KEIZUR, OF BAKER CITY, OREGON.

AUTOMATIC LIFE-SHEET FENDER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Martens L. KEIZUR, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Baker City, Baker county, Oregon, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Automatic Life-Sheet Fenders, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings as constituting a part thereof.

This invention relates to fenders of the pick-up type, that is to say,of the class in which the person run down is picked up and carried bythe fender until the car can be brought to a standstill; and myinvention has for its object to provide a fender of this type soarranged, and operating in such wise that the pickup devices cannot,under any usual circumstances, skid, or pass over the person run down,but, on the contrary, may be depended upon, under all usualcircumstances, to properly perform their work; and, furthermore, myinvention has for its purpose to provide pick-up means which willminimize the bruising of the person picked up from the track.

To this end my invention, in its general aspect, resides in thecombination with the car and a wheel-guard, arranged pendent in front ofthe wheel-truck, of a life'sheet fastened at one end under the car, inadvance of the wheel'guard, the free end of which lifesheet ispreferably weighted and rolled, so as to unroll from the bottom of thesheet; means normally supporting said life-sheet in its rolled state; amovable member pendent in advance of the wheel-guard, and means operatedthereby arranged to release said rolled life-sheet and drop the same tothe ground.

The life-sheet is made of any suitable 1naterial, and is so arrangedthat when released it will drop in front of the person lying across thecar-track, in front of the wheelguard, and will work under him whileunrolling on the ground during the continuous forward movement of thecar, and carry him along with the car until the latter can be brought toa standstill. In other words, when the life-sheet has been dropped, andhas worked under the person lying across the car-track, it will operateas a litter, carrying said person until the car can be stopped. V

In order that the life-sheet may perform its described work, it isnecessary that the same be rolled as illustrated in the drawing,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 26, 1909.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

Serial N0. 492,380.

for if rolled in reverse direction it will not work.

The arrangement of the contrivances by which my object is obtained areillustrated in the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the front end of a car provided with myimproved fender; Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of the constructionshown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective detail of my fender, showingthe life-sheet as having been dropped and in the act of unrolling under,and carrying along, the person run down, who is swept forward duringsuch instance by the wheelguard; Fig. t is a longitudinal, sectionaldetail, illustrating the arrangement of a box extending cross-wise andsupported under the car-sills, and in which box the life-sheet isnormally carried in its rolled state; this figure also illustrates thewithdrawing of the latch by which the drop-bottom of the box is normallysupported; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional detail, on a larger scale thanFig. 4, showing more particularly the construction of said box in whichthe life-sheet is normally carried as mentioned, and further showing theprovision of spring arms for the purpose of firmly holding the lifesheetin place and forcibly ejecting the same from its containing box theinstant the dropbottom of the box is released; Fig. 6 is a detail ofconstruction of a type of wheelguard; Fig. 7 is a detail illustratingthe provision of a cover attachment for the lifesheet, so arranged as tobe wrapped around the exterior of the latter when rolled up, for thepurpose of protecting the. life-sheet from the weather and dust, when itis not practical to normally carry the life-sheet in an inclosing box;Fig. 8 is a partial side elevation of the front end of the car,illustrating my invention as applied to a car of the short-end type andprovided with a projecting fender, and my life-sheet is shown asattached to and carried under such projecting fender instead of beingattached and carried under the body of the car, as shown in theillustration of Fig. 1; Fig. 9 is a larger-scale perspective detail ofthe arrangement of the parts shown in the modified example of Fig. 8;the ends of the lifesheet in this figure are shown flush with itssupports, but in practice they would project beyond; Fig. 10 is a.diagrammatic detail of construction, more fully described in the body ofthe specification; and Fig. 11 is a detail of the rolled-up end of thelifesheet showing the same as made with a hem or loop at the end, and ametal cable inserted therein as a weight to hold said end on the ground,when unrolled.

Referring in the first instance to the type of my invention illustratedin Figs. 1, 2 and 3: the same comprises a wheel-guard a, of anyconvenient type, adapted to sweep the track-surface in advance of thefront wheel-truck and thus prevent anyone from getting under the wheels.A simple and convenient way of constructing the wheel-guard is shown inFigs. 2, 3 and 6. It consists of a series of rods 0;, arranged pendentby being bent double, as shown in elevation in Fig. 6, and the upperends of the two members Z2, 6 being bent around a transverse shaft 0,supported from the car-sills f, f by hangers 0, 0 The hangers 0, 0 arearranged to allow the shaft 0 some vertical play against the spring arms9, g, fastened to the car-sills and normally holding the shaft 0 down,so as to normally keep thebottom ends of the arms of the wheel-guard, a,close to the ground. The ends 6, b are extended through a perforatedangle-iron d, suspended by stirrups e fastened to the hangers 0, 0

In order to hold the angle-iron d more securely in place, I connect thesame with the shaft 0 by straps it, one near each end of said shaft;such straps being bent around the shaft 0, and the outer ends of saidstraps being bolted to the angleiron d.

In front of the wheel-guard there are affixed, to the car-sills f, f,hangers z, z", and from said hangers is pivotally suspended a movablemember or trip-bar j, adapted to be swung back by contact with theperson lying across the track and having connections arranged to releasethe life-sheet when the trip-bar is swung back.

The life-sheet la is made of canvas, or any material having a surfacecapable of clinging to the clothing of the person run down, andsimultaneously unrolling on the ground under the person. One end of saidlife-sheet ic'is attached by chains is, or otherwise as convenient, to abar Z, and the life-sheet is rolled in the form of a roll and normallycarried in a'box we, having a drop-bottom m, which is normally retainedin place by a latch-bar n, connected at one end to the trip bar j. Thebox at is fastened to the hangers '2', 2'.

In order to insure that the life-sheet will be instantly thrown upon theground, the moment the drop-door m is released by the pulling from underthereof the latch-bar n, I provide spring-arms 0, 0, 0 The front andrear walls of the box m are provided with slots m as illustrated inFigs. 2 and 5, for the spring-arms 0 to project through, and act asmentioned. Said spring arms also hold the rolled life-sheet againstbecoming unrolled by the vibration of the car in travel.

The operation of my fender is as follows: Supposing that the personhaving fallen across the track has passed under any projecting fenderwith which the car may be equipped, he will, in the next instant, comein contact with the trip-bar j, swinging the latter back and thusdrawing the latch-bar from under the drop-door m of the box m andreleasing the life-sheet 7a, which immediately drops on the ground infront of the person on the track. The life-sheet 7c is rolled in suchmanner as to unroll, as illustrated by 70 in Fig. 3. The instant afterthe movable, pendent member or trip-bar has been swung back, asillustrated in dotted outline in Fig. l, the person lying across thetrack will come in contact with and be swept forward by the wheel-guard.The same instant the dropped and unrolling end of the life-sheet willhave reached the person, and as the car continues to move forward, theroll will pass under the person, and thereupon the life-sheet willoperate as a litter, carrying the person forward with the car. I find itadvisable to make the life-sheet of such length as to extend somedistance back under the wheel-guard, as shown in dotted outline in Fig.3.

The described operation of the life-sheet is illustrated in Fig. 3.

It is apparent that while the person carried along on the life-sheet maybe bruised to some extent by the roughness of the surface over which heis being dragged, nevertheless he is greatly protected by the lifesheet,70, lying under him, and particularly so by reason of the front end ofthe life sheet rising above the ground and causing the same to have asort of skidding motion over the ground.

It should be noted'that the body makes no forward progress whatever onthe life-sheet after the instant of contact, as would be the case if thebody were swept onto an outspread sheet; on the contrary, through theimpinging weight of the body on the unwinding sheet and the consequentforcible adhesion of the surfaces of the sheet with the pavement, theroll can do naught but pass under the body, presuming, of course, thatthe body is beingswept forward on the pavement by the wheel-guard. Theunrolling of the rolled end of the life-sheet also act-s to cause thelatter to work itself under, as it were, and to lift up on the roll anyprojected arm or leg of the person picked up. Even if the rolled end ofthe life-sheet should fall partially on the body, it will roll off, andact as described. For since the lifesheet, in the act of unrolling onthe pavement, in the direction of the wheel-guard, in reality travelsforward, it will consequently have a tendency to roll off the body andthen go under, as the weight of the body tightens on the unrollingsheet.

In Fig. 7 I have shown the life-sheet as provided with an exteriorwrapping sheet 9, made of such material and so arranged that when thelife-sheet is rolled up, the wrapping sheet will incase the former andprotect it from dirt and weather. The rolledup end of the life-sheet isprovided with a hem or fold or loop in which is inserted a piece ofcable or chain 70* (see Fig. 11) so as to give said rolled end someweight, facili tating the dropping thereof on the ground, and alsoholding the same end on the ground, notwithstanding strong head winds. Iprefer to use a flexible, instead of a rigid weight for the rolled endof the life-sheet. The attachment of the front end of the lifesheet bychains 7: allows any head winds to get over the top of the sheet, andthe weight of the chains 70 also contributes to the dropping and holdingof the life-sheet on the ground.

The arrangement of my fender contrivances, as shown in Figs. 7 to 10inclusive, is substantially the same as already described, except thatin this instance by reason of the wheel-trucks being so near the frontend of the car, it is necessary to so modify my fender as to suit suchconditions imposed upon it.

The wheel-guard, a, is of the same construction as has been described.

From the bottom of the car is suspended a hanger r, in which issupported the swinging trip-bar s. Said trip-bar is connected by a chain23, having branches 6', with the sliding sleeves to on the projectingframemembers a. The last described arrangement is diagrammaticallyillustrated in Fig. 10. A pendent piece of chain 25 prevents sagging ofchain lengths t, t.

The frame-members a have each a boxclamp 'v, and a clip 4) to which thesuspending chain to of the projecting fender-frame is fastened; andunder each of the boxclamps o is provided a short box .2 for the ends ofthe life-sheet 7a to normally lie in; said box a being provided with adrop-bottom 2, the extremity of which is inserted in the perforation ofa pendent keeper 2, fastened under the sleeve to, and the latter andtherewith said keeper are held in their normal places by a spring Anangle-bar 4 prevents the rolled life-sheet 70 from bearing against thekeeper 2, which would have a tendency to prematurely unlatch thedropbottom a. The life-sheet 7c is connected by chains 5 (theequivalents of chains is) to the fender frame-members u; and since theboxes a merely inclose the two ends of the life-sheet roll 71:, in thisinstance the outer protectin sheet 7 comes into good stead, as aprotection against weather and dust.

I claim: 1. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, of alife-sheet fastened atone end nnder the car in advance of thewheel-guard, the free end of said life-sheet being so rolled as tounroll from the bottom when released, means normally supporting thelife-sheet in its rolled state, a movable member pendent in advance ofthe wheelgnard and arranged to be operated by contact with a body lyingacross the car-track, and means operated by said pendent member andarranged to release the supporting means of the rolled life-sheet.

2. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, of a life-sheetfastened at one end under the car in advance of the wheel-guard, thefree end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottomwhen released, a weight fastened to the free end of the life-sheet,means normally supporting the life-sheet in its rolled state, a movablemember pendent in advance of the wheel-guard and arranged to be operatedby contact with a body lying across the cartrack, and means operated bysaid pendent member and arranged to release the supporting means of therolled life-sheet.

3. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard. of a life-sheetfastened at one end under the car in advance of the whee1-guard, thefree end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottomwhen released, a box provided with a dropbottom and a latch normallyholding said drop-bottom, said life-sheet being normally contained inits rolled state in said box. a movable member pendent in advance of thewheel-guard and arranged to be operated by contact with a body lyingacross the eartrack, and means operated by the pendentmember andarranged to withdraw the latch of the drop-bottom of said containingbox.

4. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, of a life-sheetfastened at one end under the car in advance of the wheel-guard, thefree end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottomwhen released, a weight fastened to the free end of the life-sheet, abox provided with a drop-bottom and a latch normally holding saiddrop-bottom, said life-sheet being normally contained in its rolledstate in said box, a movable member pendent in advance of thewheel-guard and arranged to be operated by contact with a body lyingacross the car-track, and means operated by the pendent member andarranged to withdraw the latch of the drop-bottom of said containingbox.

5. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, a life-sheetand means by which the life-sheet is fastened at one end under the carin advance of the wheel-guard, said fastening means being arranged tosuspend said end of the life-sheet, when spread out, clear of thecar-body, the free end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unrollfrom the bottom when released, means normally supporting the life-sheetin its rolled state, a movable member pendent in advance of thewheel-guard and arranged to be operated by contact with a body lyingacross the car-track, and means operated by said pendent member andarranged to release the supporting means of the rolled life-sheet.

6. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, a life-sheetand means by which the life-sheet is fastened at one end under the carin advance of the. wheel-guard, said fastening means being arranged tosuspend said end of the life'sheet, when spread out, clear of thecar-body, the free end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unrollfrom the bottom when released, a weight fastened to the free end of thelife-sheet, means normally supporting the life sheet in its rolledstate, a movable member pendent in advance of the wheel-guard andarranged to be operated by contact with a body lying across thecar-track, and means operated by said pendent member and arranged torelease the supporting means of the rolled lifesheet.

7 The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, of a life-sheetfastened at one end under the car in advance of the wheel-guard, thefree end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottomwhen released, an exterior wrapper attached to the life-sheet andadaptedto'inclose the same in its rolled state, means normally supporting thelife-sheet in its rolled state, a movable member pendent in advance ofthe wheel-guard and arranged to be operated by contact with a body lyingacross the cartrack, and means operated by said pendent member andarranged torelease the supporting means of the rolled life-sheet.

one end under the car in advance of the j wheel-guard, the free end ofsaid life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottom whenreleased, means normally supporting the life-sheet in its rolled state,a movable member pendent in advance of the wheelguard and arranged to beoperated by contact with a body lying across the car-track, meansoperated by said pendent member and arranged to release the supportingmeans of the rolled life-sheet, and means preventing the unrolling ofthe life-sheet while contained in its support.

9. The combination with a car and a pendent wheel-guard, of a life-sheetfastened at one end under the car in advance of the wheel-guard, thefree end of said life-sheet being so rolled as to unroll from the bottomwhen released, a weight fastened to the free end of the life-sheet,means normally supporting the life-sheet in its rolled state, a

movable member pendent in advance of the wheel-guard andarranged to beoperated by contact with a body lying across the cartrack, meansoperated by said pendent member and arranged to release the supportingmeans of the rolled life-sheet, and spring arms arranged to normallyprevent the lifesheet becoming unrolled while contained in its carrier,said spring arms also being adapted to eject the rolled end of thelife-sheet when released.

MARCUS L. KEIZUR. Witnesses:

H. K. SARGENT, CEOIL Lows.

